Vice Versa: Ryan Lay

Usually after landing the cover of a magazine, you don’t really have to stress about finding sponsors. But hey man, shit happens–even if it’s at your own hand. On the eve of the Rasa Libre video premiere, Arizona boy Ryan Lay quit the board company he had been riding for without another sponsor lined up. Fortunately, not letting his footage go to waste, Ipath released a banger of a part and after watching, it’s probably safe to say that Ryan won’t be on the flow-program for much longer. So what can we learn from the young Arizonan? When shit happens, just wipe it up.

What’s the deal with the Ipath video that just came out?It was the footage I had filmed for the Rasa Libre video and it didn’t work out with them, so I had all this footage left over, and I’m filming for another part in January, so I wanted to put it out. Ipath was awesome enough to help me out.

How long did the part take to put together? We had it together a couple months ago–probably five months ago. But I just wanted to put it all out and then start fresh.

With a double-kinked front feeble like this, Ryan will be back to full-fledged am status in no time. Photo: CHAMI

You quit Rasa Libre the day before their video was going to come out right?Yeah, I just had some problems. I wasn’t really happy and I didn’t feel like there was enough of a team vibe and I really liked that about the company [before]. I felt like I was on the outside and I just decided to pull my footage before the video came out because I didn’t really want to be associated with it anymore. But I’m still really good friends with everyone on the team.

Did you think about quitting long before the video was going to drop, or was it just a spur of the moment freak out kinda thing?Yeah, I was having some problems and had been thinking about it. And then once the video came out, I just kinda felt like the team vibe that used to be there wasn’t there anymore, and so I told Kenny [Reed] that I was thinking about quitting. Then I just made the decision to quit.

Who are you getting hooked up by now?Well, not really anybody. Jamie [Thomas] is giving me boards from Zero at the moment, just because I was getting Insight stuff from [Blackbox]. So, they’re helping me out with boards. I’m just trying to figure out what I want to do next, but Jamie’s been a big help to me.

Ipath’s totally down with you quitting Rasa Libre and not having a board sponsor?Yeah, they are. They’ve been a big help. They wanted to put out this footage just as much as I did.

You’re probably the only flow guy with a mag cover ever…[Laughs] Yeah I think that might be true.

You don’t see this one too often. Switch back 180 to front crook. Photo: DRISCOLL

Did you think you were ever going to be bumped back down to flow after getting that cover, or did you think it was gonna be all smooth sailing from thereon out?Well, you can’t really see my face in it, so I don’t think anyone really knew it was me anyways, but [Matt Price] said Wes Lott had a back lip on a Thrasher cover. But no, definitely not. I’m kinda the person who believes in video parts and I want to put out video parts and keep producing stuff. I wanna prove myself.

So are you going to go full-speed for Zero and hope to get on, or what are you lookin’ at for board sponsors?I’m not sure at the moment. I don’t even know. This is like putting me on the spot right now. I might have something else in the mix, but I’m not really sure at the moment. They have so many people on Zero and it’s hard to get on the program when they already have a huge am team and pro team.

It must be crazy dealing with Jamie as opposed to who you were dealing with at Rasa Libre–it seems like a totally different approach…Yeah it’s a way different program, but [Jamie] has definitely helped me out a lot. He sends me boards, so I’ve been skating. He’s been a huge help to me.

Do you feel like you have to push yourself a lot more because Jamie Thomas is sending you boards?Yeah, I’m actually really happy about the position I’m in right now. I’d rather be in the position to keep putting out footage and photos and keep trying to prove myself than being given a golden spoon, ya know?